Brutalist Beauty on FVF.

Sculptor Pedro Reyes and clothing designer Carla Fernández make their home in a beautiful Brutalist structure in Mexico City, surrounding themselves with color, plant life, and an ever-growing collection of books. I was lucky enough to interview the couple for Freunde von Freunden last month, for a feature that went live this week. My favorite moment in our conversation? Pedro's comparison of the home to both a factory and a playground—and his description of the contents of his library.

"Our collection is very diverse," he says. "Just last week, I came back from Japan with two suitcases full of books, including an atlas of sand and a book about caterpillars. It all seems random—but it's not."

Read more on Freunde von Freunden. Photos by Ana Hop.

More work on FvF: Linda Derschang / Chelsea Miller / Mick Johan.

Tina Roth Eisenberg on FvF.

On a hot day late this summer, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tina Roth Eisenberg for Freunde von Freunden — and, happily, the story went live yesterday. Tina is the founder of the design blog Swissmiss, the temporary tattoo company Tattly, the international lecture series CreativeMornings, the to-do app TeuxDeux, and the Boerum Hill co-working space Friends. Needless to say, she's a busy woman, so it was a treat to spend the day hearing her thoughts on creativity, intentional communities, and why she thinks she'll always call New York home.

I especially loved what she had to say about children and technology: "I’m trying to find a balance with my kids, but I do let them spend more time on screens than other parents I know. I just tell them, you need to use it to create something. Ella just spent two weeks at a summer camp learning to code. I couldn’t be happier. This is her world. Coding will part of her vocabulary. I might have learned French; she’s learning Java."
 

Read the rest on Freunde von Freunden. Photos by the very talented Nicole Franzen.

Other recent work on FvF:  Clément Froissart / Mick Johan / Frank Huang. (More, here.)

Frank Huang on FvF.

Hello again after a week away! So happy to share a bit of what I've been working on these past few weeks – in October, I was lucky enough to sign on to a few international interview projects; one of them, a story on Taiwanese art collector Frank Huang, went live on Freunde von Freunden today. Frank, who's the founder of Polymer, Taiwan's largest artist residency village, couldn't have been warmer, funnier, or more full of surprise. His home is a trove of artistic curiosities – a story in itself – but what I loved most about the interview was his commentary on what it’s like to be creative in a place where pursuing art is an uncommon choice – and how he’s sharing his love of the weird and wonderful with his toddler son.

Below, a few photos of Frank’s home in Taipei. When I asked to know more about it, he said: “I love that right outside of the window I can see banyan trees. When the leaves are growing, I don’t need a curtain – I can hide behind the trees. I can look out and watch the birds commuting.”

Find the interview in its entirety on Freunde von Freunden. Photos by Shinji Minegishi.

Other recent work on FvF: Nawab Khan / Linda Derschang / Chelsea Miller. (More, here.)

Mick Johan on FvF.

On my third morning in Amsterdam, I woke up early and took the ferry from the Central Station to Noord, a Northern borough of the city. It was a two minute ride, but when I emerged I felt like I'd landed in a different world, with houses painted pink and powder blue lining rain-soaked, near-silent streets. My tour guide for the day was Mick Johan, an artist who's lived in the area with his family for two years and who recently saw the completion of a skate park he designed under a raspberry-colored canopy at a former gas station. 

Over the course of our conversation — which I shared here on Freunde von Freunden — we discussed his career (which includes a stint as the Editor in Chief of VICE Netherlands), his love of skating, and his deep affection for Noord, a working-class borough that's rapidly evolving as more and more creatives are priced out of the city's trendier neighborhoods. It's a hard place to describe — and, now that I think of it, both Mick and Jordi, our photographer, often resorted to a knowing smile when asked about its eccentricities. "Why are the houses pink?" I asked Mick at one point. "Because this is Noord," was his answer.

Read more on Freunde von Freunden, and find the rest of my interviews, here. Beautiful photos by Jordi Huisman (whose Rear Window series I posted about last month).

Chelsea Miller on FvF.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Chelsea Miller, a Brooklyn-based knife-maker (and a neighbor of mine) for Freunde von Freunden. Chelsea's windowless Williamsburg studio, wallpapered in palm trees and festooned with plastic flamingos, is about the size of a toolshed — and it feels like one, too. It's not short on warmth, though, and neither is Chelsea, whose hand-crafted knives are made entirely from repurposed materials – wood from her family’s home in Vermont, old mechanics’ files, horseshoe rasps.

She says, "I wanted to be an actress for as long as I can remember, which is why I moved to New York when I was 19. I wanted to be a storyteller. And I feel that I am, in a way. Knife-making is another form of storytelling. Take a look at a knife – there’s a story behind that wood. There’s moisture in the grain; there are markings. Each one is so different. And since my knives are made from other tools, there’s a story there, too. They belonged to other trades altogether. And, of course, my own personal story is part of each piece. These things have lives beyond what we can see."

   

Find the interview in its entirety on Freunde von Freunden. Photos by my talented friend Nick Vorderman.

Other recent work on FvF: Nawab Khan / Linda Derschang / Henry Hargreaves. (More, here.)

Linda Derschang on FvF.

Thrilled to share my latest interview for Freunde von Freunden with Seattle-based restauranteur Linda Derschang, who owns six eateries and bars including Oddfellows, Tallulah's, and Linda's Tavern.

Linda and I spoke for nearly two hours on the phone one June afternoon, and I hung up with my head happily abuzz. You'd be hard-pressed to find a warmer, more personable, or more inspiring woman — as she says in the interview, "As soon as I opened my first store, I knew what I wanted to do with my life: I wanted to start businesses that allowed me to be creative and to connect with my community. I’m very social – I always have been. I like going to parties and openings, and supporting others. That never feels tedious. Ultimately I think that’s the reason hospitality comes naturally to me: I enjoy people."

Find the rest on Freunde von Freunden. Photos by Dorothée Brand/Belathée.

Other favorite FvF interviews: Project No. 8 / Minka Sicklinger / Huy Bui. Thanks so much for reading!

Henry Hargreaves on FvF.

Very happy to share my latest interview for Freunde von Freunden, which spotlights Brooklyn-based food artist Henry Hargreaves. Henry — whose work includes a photographic documentation  of prisoners' last meals; an Instagram feed showcasing the world's best disposable coffee cups; and a portrait of the queen reconstructed in 1400 slices of toast (pictured below) — has this to say on overcoming the fear of how a creative project might be received: "I've learned not to pay so much attention [to that]. That's one of my strengths: I've got a book of ideas and I'm good at making them happen. I figure, if it sucks, it sucks. Some of the most exciting things come of situations where it's a disaster or it just doesn't work out — that's where the fun stuff happens."

Select photos are also featured on ZEIT Online, under a headline that Google translates quite charmingly to "Art is through his stomach.") Find the interview in its entirety, here.

Visit Henry Hargreaves's website, here. Photographs by Brandon Schulman.

More FvF interviews:
-Huy Bui
-Dez'Mon Omega Fair
-Elizabeth Beer and Brian Janusiak of Project No. 8.

Thanks so much for reading!

2 New on FvF.

Today: snippets from two recent features I was lucky enough to work on for Freunde von Freunden this winter. As it happens, the subjects of both interviews are my neighbors — the first is banker-turned-architect Huy Bui, who constructs beautiful wooden structures made to sustain plant life in cities. (I first wrote about seeing Huy's work, here.)

In response to a question about preferred vacation destinations, Huy replied: "I love to travel, but my work is a holiday. I’m very lucky. I’m happiest when I’m in my shop, making things. I have moments here that remind me of when I was a kid, five years old, playing with Legos. My parents would say, 'come down to dinner!' And I’d be ravenous. But then I’d think, wait, just a minute. I have to finish this."

The second feature spotlights Sam and Stefanie Wessner, a couple living just a few blocks from Huy's studio, in a one-bedroom apartment neighboring the East River. Sam is the co-founder of Manhattan's El Rey Coffee Bar and Luncheonette, and partner at Noble Denim and Victor Athletics. Stefanie is Projects Officer at the architecture and public health organization ARCHIVE global.

Says Stefanie about making a home in New York: "When we got here, we made a conscious decision not to entertain other options for a while, which was a challenge — but a good one. We've decided to try to just be present."

You can find more of my FvF interviews, here, and my "Meet the Contributor" page, here. Thanks so much for reading — have a wonderful weekend!

 All photos by my friend Emily Johnston.

Brian Paquette on FVF.

So happy to share my latest interview for Freunde von Freunden, which went live this morning. It's with interior designer Brian Paquette of Seattle (the same Brian, incidentally, who's quoted here). I loved hearing his thoughts on art and objects and creating spaces that call on all five senses. My favorite bit of our interview, though, had to do with the importance of remembering our own creativity. 

"Nine to five is not my thing," he says. "On Fridays, our office has 'input days.' Monday through Thursday is devoted to output; Friday is all about input. We read. We go to galleries. We have outside vendors come in to show us new lighting or fabric lines. We’ll go to a new showroom. We’ll look at furniture, jewelry, anything. It’s just about jogging our brains after a week of invoicing and remembering that at the end of the day, we’re creatives."

Find the interview in its entirety on Freunde von Freunden, here. Thanks so much for such a wonderful conversation, Brian! 

Photographs by Dorothee Brand.